It is Mother's Day or Mothering Sunday here in the U.K. tomorrow, and I am reflecting on the status and role of mothers in the workplace and their contribution to the economy.
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the proportion of mothers in employment has risen to a record level, as women are increasingly choosing to return to work after having children. In 2018, 74 percent of mothers in England were in work, up from 68.9 percent five years ago. This is the highest proportion of working mothers since records began in 1996. It might be so, but I can speak from my own experience and that of several others whom I spoke to during the course of writing this article that many mothers have to leave the workplace because of lack of adequate support. They had hit the "maternity wall."
Are our workplaces doing enough to be inclusive and supportive of mothers?
While only 2% of working women plan to leave the workforce for family reasons, yet 43% of highly qualified women opt out or off-ramp on their way back to work post-baby According to research by Livingston in 2014, 29 percent of mothers and 10 percent of women with a masters degree leave the workforce to care for their families. It is assumed that women are making this decision because they prioritize their families over their work. However, this is not the case. In a study published in the American Psychological Association, Eden King proposes that this is more complex and that mothers face a lot of stereotypes and discriminations in the workplace. In their study, it was shown that this discrimination starts the moment a woman announces that she is pregnant. Women encountered more subtle discrimination in the form of rudeness, hostility, decreased eye contact and attempts to cut off the interaction when they appeared to be pregnant (wearing a pregnancy prosthesis) while applying for jobs in retail stores than when the same women did not appear to be pregnant. Implicit unconscious biases and stereotypes are at play here, as women are being penalized for acting out of their feminine stereotype. They showed that these acts of subtle sexism and microaggressions starting when a woman announces their pregnancy puts her firmly on the "mommy track" and can have a huge impact on her decision to leave the workforce.
Experimental social psychological data also suggests that the resume of a mother is rated as showing less competence than the identical resume when identified as that of a father or person without a child. In this study in 2004, it was shown that simply being labeled as a “mom” seems to convey that a person is lacking in ability. A 2007 study comparing undergraduates and actual employers found that mothers were often more likely than non-mothers to be regarded as less competent and poorly motivated to succeed, and as a result working mothers often received a lower starting salary than nonmothers regardless of any difference in qualifications. On the other hand, fathers often receive preferential treatment and higher salaries as they are considered the "breadwinners" for their family. In several sociological studies, it has also been shown that mothers face more pressure from their managers to prove themselves capable of time management and deadlines. As anyone who has faced severe sleep depression in the early months and years of motherhood will understand, this can create a huge amount of additional stress, and affect the mental health, and thereby the performance of a working mother.
In the book, What Works for Women at Work, it has been shown that working mothers are repeatedly forced to prove their worth and competency to their colleagues and employers and that managers are more demanding that women prove that they are as committed and capable as they were pre-baby. Where men, especially fathers, are valued based on their potential, women, especially mothers, are judged on their performance.
These subtle microinvalidations and stereotypes of mothers as lacking flexibility and commitment means that motherhood is not normalized. I know from my own experience first as a single parent, and then more recently as a mother of twins is that often women hide the challenges they are facing as parents. As a single parent, and as the very first female Lecturer appointed in an Engineering department at a leading UK University, I had to work twice as hard to prove that I deserved to be there, and my appointment was not just an attempt at increasing the gender diversity as some had implied. The workplace is often designed by men for men. For instance, childcare is not considered a priority so women, who often carry the primary childcare responsibility are held back from progressing as rapidly as men. As a single parent, with no family in the country, I remember how difficult it was for me as often meetings were scheduled after 5 pm, and networking events that were crucial for important connections, recognition, and progress were often held over dinner. This kind of workplace culture is not inclusive and discriminates against mothers. I recently spoke about this at an International Women's Day event at the British High Commission in New Delhi, and later a male CEO of one of leading organizations came up to me and said that he had never considered how all the networking meetings might be discriminating against working mothers with childcare responsibilities. Sometimes, it takes one person to stand up and question the status quo.
Mothers also face the "double-bind bias" that hampers the progress of women to leadership positions. This is especially true of professions where dynamism, competitiveness, and ruthlessness are valued. So, while women, when they become mothers are often stereotyped as lacking the determination and focus to get ahead, they are also penalized at the same time for not being "ideal mothers" and violating social norms by putting their work ahead of their children. A no-win situation really.
Lack of women leadership means that women can often face more bullying in the workplace, the workforces is less diverse at the top, and that the mental well-being of female employees can suffer too as they feel discriminated against and do not have the same opportunities to progress. The lack of women leaders also creates a paucity of role models that can inspire other mothers to enter and stay in the workforce. But often having women leaders are not enough. We need women who can be allies and pave the path for other mothers in their organization.
Recently, I was speaking to an Indian CEO, a woman who is one of few to reach this position, named on several lists as one of the ground-breaking female leaders in India. I asked her about maternity leave in India, and particularly in her organization, and how women are supported as they returned to work. I found out that it was only fairly recently in 2017 that the Maternity Benefit Amendment Act increased paid leave time to 26 weeks from 12 weeks for women working at companies with at least 10 employees in India. I was surprised to hear what she said. She told me that "most women are too lazy to come back to work properly after taking the whole of maternity leave. They come back but are not committed enough, and so often leave. This means that the paid maternity leave is really a waste." I was taken aback and have not stopped thinking about this. Here is a woman who has reached the highest level in a field which is dominated by men, in a country which is still fairly patriarchal, and I somehow expected more from her.
Why is it that women leaders are not doing more to lead the way for the workplace to become more inclusive of mothers?
Women, who become mothers, are no less committed to their jobs. It is the lack of support by the managers and the leadership in an organization, and the difficulties in transitioning from being a working woman to a working mother, especially the lack of flexible working and childcare options that allows them to fit family around their work, and do both justice, that forces them to consider leaving the workplace. . It is important that open and honest lines of communication are established so that women feel comfortable discussing with their employers what is working for them, and what not, and what would be helpful to them to stay and progress in the workplace as they navigate family and work. It is also important that there is more discussion around maternity wall and unconscious biases that affect women's perception in the workplace once they become a mother. Additionally, it is important we move towards equal maternity and paternity leave so that work and family become an equitable partnership and decision, childcare is not seen solely as a "women's thing" and women are not penalized for becoming mothers.
According to the World Economic Forum, at the current rate of progress, it will take another 217 years to achieve economic gender parity. Perhaps we could hasten this progress by normalizing motherhood and consider our implicit biases that push working mothers out of the workplace.
